A joint investigation by the Tampa Bay Times and 10News WTSP found at least 100 Zombie Campaigns nationwide where spending remains brisk despite the lack of viable campaigns, or in the most egregious cases, living candidates. Reporters from the Times and 10News spent a year reviewing one million records from the Federal Elections Commission and found rampant flouting of federal law, which prevents spending campaign money on personal expenses or costs unrelated to elections.

The Associated Press and three SNPA members from Florida were among the winners of Pulitzer Prizes awarded yesterday.

Well-deserved honors were awarded for:

Public Service - The Associated Press for an investigation of severe labor abuses tied to the supply of seafood to American supermarkets and restaurants. This reporting freed 2,000 slaves, brought perpetrators to justice and inspired reforms. (read more)

Investigative Reporting - Leonora LaPeter Anton and Anthony Cormier of the Tampa Bay Times and Michael Braga of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune for a stellar example of collaborative reporting by two news organizations that revealed escalating violence and neglect in Florida mental hospitals and laid the blame at the door of state officials. (read more)

Local Reporting - Michael LaForgia, Cara Fitzpatrick and Lisa Gartner of the Tampa Bay Times for exposing a local school board's culpability in turning some county schools into failure factories, with tragic consequences for the community. (read more)

The Tampa Bay Times and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for the series "Insane, Invisible, In Danger." a reporting partnership between the two papers.

In addition, the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting was awarded to Michael LaForgia, Cara Fitzpatrick and Lisa Gartner of the Tampa Bay Times for their work in exposing how Pinellas County school leaders withheld promised funding and support from five predominantly black schools creating "Failure Factories," the title of the series that was published in 2015.

The Tampa Bay Times, in partnership with The Center for Investigative Reporting, has built an online tool that captures what the nation's top charity watchdogs have to say about more than 11,000 charities.

Other newspapers can embed part of this tool into their websites by using the Charity Checker widget.

The Galveston County Daily News and Southern Newspapers, Inc., are unabashed print-centric companies. On the closing day of the Mega-Conference, hear how Coast Monthly and their faith in print has transformed them.

Leonard Woolsey, publisher of The Galveston County Daily News, says: "We are not a large newspaper by any sense – a sub 20K circulation newspaper with a hometown base of less than 50,000 year-around residents. But Coast Monthly is a dream we brought to market several years ago and is now approaching a $1 million annual revenue run rate."

W.B. Grimes & Company, a leading mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory firm serving the media, entertainment and professional sports industries, has announced that its Global Media, Events & Information Services Group, and its Newspapers Group have been acquired by John J. McGovern, a former senior associate with the firm.